In the small southern town of Zhenjiang, at the turn of the 20th century, two young girls from very different worlds become inseparable companions. Willow is hardened by poverty and fearful for her future; Pearl is the blonde daughter of a Christian missionary, and wishes that she too were Chinese. Neither could have foreseen Pearl's transformation from a little American girl, a stranger in her adopted homeland, into Nobel Prize winner Pearl S. Buck. In this novel the author of Red Azalea, Empress Orchid, and The Last Empress gives us remarkable insights into both the violent schisms in China as it entered the modern world and the deep love Buck felt for the Chinese people.